#007: Carmen's Portfolio
A beautiful and minimal visual experience that showcases the designer's unique style and the powerful messages in her artwork.
We’re back with a new edition of Web Wizards! One of the greatest difficulties you go through as a creative is defining your own style. Personally, it’s still something that I’m figuring out for myself. What I love about today’s feature is that Carmen was able to define her own unique aesthetic within her artworks and then expand that into a beautiful visual experience for her portfolio site.
Got a cool website you’d like to see featured? Let me know by replying to this email or reaching out.
An Intro
My name is Carmen Weathersby, I am a multi-media artist & graphic designer located in Dallas, TX with a background in Fashion & Communication Studies.
I discovered graphic design by studying fashion merchandising in college and realized I had a passion for storytelling, particularly for brands who needed direction and guidance on how to be more inclusive in their marketing. Thus, me moving more into creating personal artworks that evoke powerful messages that tell Black Womens’ stories.
➤ Carmen’s Socials: Instagram
About the Site
I created a site that showcases my personal design style while maintaining professionalism. There’s a perfect balance of elements that reflect my artwork/design work while still allowing minimalism to be the main theme.
Collaborator(s): Carmen (Designer)
Tools: Canva
Q&A
What did your concept ideation process look like for this project?
Honestly, I jumped into this project wanting to tackle multiple tasks at once, I shortly realized that wasn’t the best way to create a site that showcases me and my passions. I then created a moodboard full of color palettes, layout inspiration, and pictures that resonate with me then created a list of sections that flow from page to page that tell my story.
How did you strike a balance between creativity and functionality in this website design or build?
Trying to find balance between the two was honestly a bit of struggle. Overall I decided to stick with a minimalist theme and incorporate my collage works to add in some creativity and design.
What challenges did you have whilst designing/building this site?
Layout was my biggest challenge. Being that this is my first website project, I underestimated how certain pages would look on mobile and how that would translate but in the end I was able to find a balance.
What are some of your favourite elements/features on the site?
Using my artwork throughout each page. It’s unique to my portfolio and I love the placements I chose.
What’s one new thing you learned during the entire process?
I learned that creating a portfolio site all on my own can be difficult. I wish I would’ve taken time to create a timeline of deliverables to meet instead of tackling everything all at once.
If your creative process for this project had a lead single, what song would it have been and why?
Count Me Out by Kendrick Lamar. I created this site during a time where I felt unsure of what I wanted out of my design career and also dealing with personal problems as well, constantly taking breaks from wanting to work on this site but then finally overcoming my negative thoughts to put together something I’m proud to use to display my work, this song truly helped me get through one of the toughest times last year.
Thanks for tuning in to this edition of Web Wizards! Definitely reach out if you’d like to be featured or would like to recommend a site to feature.
Till next time ~